American Conservative Herald

New ICE Task Force Just Deployed To Shut Down Child Pornography. Who Are These Special Agents?

Child pornography has become a huge industry in America. Alongside that, we have heard countless stories about child sexual abuse, and they only seem to be increasing in horror.

Children unfortunate enough to be victimized by predators in the child pornography industry oftentimes suffer cruel and inhumane treatment at the hands of profit hungry pornographers, but there is a new task force created to shut down and investigate these purveyors of sleaze and child exploitation, so they can be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Who are these brave individuals? This task force is comprised of people whom you wouldn’t expect to be taking on such a responsibility, wounded veterans who came back from war with injuries and illnesses that most would find debilitating in the least, and they are assuming their mission with a sense of purpose.

VOA expounds:

For a fifth year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rather quietly has trained a small team of injured, wounded or sick military veterans for a different type of deployment – supporting the agency’s lesser-known investigative arm as analysts on child exploitation cases – the ones who will be able to take photos off a hard drive in a child pornography investigation, then help identify the perpetrator and build the case for an arrest.

“It is a battle. It is a war. And it needs to be,” said Daniel Ragsdale, ICE Deputy Director.

Since 2013, more than 100 veterans have learned computer forensics through the H.E.R.O. Child-Rescue Corps, an 11-week program in the nation’s capital, followed by a nearly year-long internship in ICE field offices around the country.

Chris Wooten, a U.S. Army ranger who was injured in a helicopter crash seven years ago while serving with a special operations regiment in Afghanistan — his fifth tour in Iraq and Afghanistan — felt like the program could return that sense of purpose and pride he felt serving in the military.

“I did have a lot of buddies who weren’t able to make it home, that were killed overseas or even individuals that took their own lives when they made it back just because they didn’t have that sense of purpose anymore,” he explains after the ceremony, before flying home to southwest Florida, where he starts his internship next week.

“I think this opportunity, even though we’re all wounded and can’t do our military job anymore, that this program allows us to serve our country again, and not only that, but help save some kids.” You can watch Chris Wooten’s interview HERE.

Even though the first year is voluntary unpaid work, the program often leads to job offers to veterans from ICE as the need for experienced investigators continues to grow. I know we all are grateful not only for the service from these wounded vets in the military, but also for what they are doing now in putting the child pornographers out of business and in jail where they belong.